TenToo and Rose Domestic Life pt 4: What I Can't Live Without
by sherwhotreksings
Summary: This one jumps two years to the Doctor's second Christmas in Pete's world.


The sun sparkles off the frozen lake as Tony and Rose attempt to ice skate on top of it. The Doctor, Jackie, and Pete sit in some chairs on the balcony of their rental cabin. The Doctor had a great idea that they should rent a cabin in a secluded part of England next to a lake for Christmas holiday. Tony had wanted to go ice skating before they ate dinner so Rose volunteered to take him.

The Doctor watches Rose, rapt. Her cheeks bright compared to the rest of her flushed face. Jackie watches Rose and Tony also, but Pete is observing the nature.

Jackie leans over to the Doctor and without taking her eyes off the skaters says, "You know she just about lost it when you left her."

He pauses and holds his breath. Rose doesn't talk about what happened in the gap between being with him.

"She wouldn't leave the house for weeks, horribly depressed."

The Doctor's hands tighten into a fist at the thought of Rose being depressed.

"I couldn't get her to do anything," her voice is dismal and he can tell without looking at her that she has turned to look at him now.

"One day I went over to her flat, found a note saying about how she had to go, couldn't stand it here anymore..." There is silence between them before Jackie continues, "I took Pete's car and drove around for an hour at least. I found her..." she chokes out, "I found her sitting on a bridge a few miles out of town. She had her feet dangling off the edge. I was terrified she was going to jump."

The Doctor whips his head around at Jackie, a picture of pure deviation.

"Oh, I don't think she could've brought herself to jump. I think deep down inside there was some part of her that still believed you would come back, some part that wouldn't let go."

He turns away, not wanting Jackie to see him cry. He kicks himself mentally for leaving her the way he did, so utterly alone. He manages to wipe most of the tears off his face before Rose turns around and waves at him excitedly.

Tony pulls on Rose's hand trying to get her to skate with him again but she lingers on the Doctor's face. When she waved at him she thought she saw him crying but it was hard to tell from this far away.

"Come _on_ Rose! We only have 10 more minutes to skate!" Tony is barely able to tear her away from the Doctor and get her skating again.

"I brought her over to our house, wouldn't let her stay alone. Most of the time she would just sit in her room, but Tony could get her to play with him occasionally. 90% of the time when I would walk past her room at night she would cry herself to sleep," Jackie goes on.

The Doctor can hear Jackie crying, and places his hand on hers, squeezing it gently.

"After a few months Pete convinced her to come on a few Torchwood missions. Then she heard about the dimension cannon and her hopes picked up. All she would talk about was what they did on the dimension cannon or how proud you would be of her if you could see her."

Rose really had suffered through so much for him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he turns to look at Jackie as he says that which was a mistake, tears are streaming down her face trailing behind mascara and eye makeup.

He glances down the little hill to where Rose skates in lazy circles with Tony to make sure she isn't looking because this is the one time he will ever hug Jackie Tyler and he sure doesn't want Rose to see him. After the hug Jackie gets up and walks inside to clean up.

"She really does love you an awful lot," Pete tells the Doctor, "If you leave her again I think it would kill her."

"I don't plan on leaving her again, not ever."

Tony and Rose finally stop skating and trek up the small hill to the balcony and back door. She has her ice skates and Tony's ice skates in one hand and Tony's hand in her other. The Doctor smiles at the adorableness of Tony's small body walking next to Rose's.

They make it to the top of the hill and enter the house. Tony runs up the stairs and straight into the Doctor's arms.

"Did you see me? I was skating well! I only fell over three times!" Tony exclaims proudly.

"Yes I did see you," the Doctor tells him, then looks up at Rose, "I thought you were great!" then back to Tony he says, "Why don't you get cleaned up for dinner? Your mum is inside."

Tony runs back into the house, followed by Pete, leaving just Rose and the Doctor on the balcony.

Rose narrows her eyes a bit, studying the Doctor, "Are you ok?"

He pauses for a second, contemplating how he will answer the question but falls back on, "Yeah, fine. Why?"

She reaches over and places a hand on his arm, looking into his eyes, "I thought I saw you cry when I was skating."

"Huh, must've been a trick of the light." He turns away from her and moves towards the door, "We should probably go inside now, Jackie will be mad if we hold up Christmas Eve dinner." He chooses to look at her then, not quite sure what he will see.

He can tell right away that she wants to question him more about it but doesn't -for which he is very glad about-. He winds his fingers through hers as they go into the cabin and then the small dining room.

What they find is an almost magical scene. There is a big picture window on one wall, allowing a perfect view of the frozen lake and iced trees. The room isn't lit by light bulbs, instead candles flicker on the windowsill and table -it is still light enough outside that they can do that without it being too dark-. Their dinner is placed on the table already and Rose sucks in a breath at the beauty of it all. Jackie smiles at her and the Doctor and he squeezes her hand.

After dinner the Doctor and Rose go for a walk outside. Hand in hand, they walk to the edge of the woods and make their way towards the lake. Their hands swing back and forth between them and they talk until Rose hears a rustle in the bushes behind them.

"What was that?" She whips around but sees nothing so they resume their walk. Then she hears giggles.

"Did you hear that, doctor?"

"Hmm? Oh, no I didn't hear anything." he gives the bushes a firm glare before turning back around and walking on.

They walk around the perimeter of the lake until they reach a good climbing tree on the side opposite the cabin. Rose grins and runs over to the tree, stepping up onto the first branch, only a few feet off the ground. She climbs up the next two branches so that her head is even with the Doctor's and sits down on the limb. She examines the tree and finds 'Rose + the Doctor' with a heart encircling it carved into the trunk, Level with her head.

"Did you do this doctor?" she giggles, smiling with her tongue sticking through her teeth.

As a response he puts one hand on the tree trunk beside her head and the other hand on her waist to make sure she doesn't fall. He leans in and kisses her softly and she opens her mouth just enough to let his tongue enter.

"Ewwww!" Tony screams and he runs out of the bushes near Rose and the Doctor, wielding a camera he snaps a picture of the couple.

At the sound of a picture being taken Rose pulls away from the Doctor, the only thing keeping her from falling at that point was his hand on her, and shouts, "Tony! Why were you following us and why do you have a camera?"

Tony looks to the Doctor for help and the Doctor says, "I can explain this one," he helps Rose down from her branch and reaches into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. He drops to one knee and takes her hand, holding out a ring to her. Tony starts taking pictures like mad.

"Rose Tyler. I promised your mum when we first met that I would take care of you. Then I promised you I would never leave you. I would like to make good on both to promises forever. I will never, ever, leave you again because Rose, you are the one thing I can't live without. Screw the TARDIS and the universe, all I need is you. So would you do me the honor of marrying me?"

Tears stream down her face and she smiles, "Yes, yes of course!" She nods her head vigorously and the Doctor hops up, taking her in his arms and spins her around in a humongous hug.

Once her feet are back on the ground he slips the ring onto her finger and dips her slightly, kissing her. All the while Tony backs up further and further to get pictures until he is at the edge if the lake. He takes another step back, as the Doctor and Rose turn towards him and smiles, so that he can get their whole body in the picture. That's when disaster strikes. Tony slips and falls on the ice, causing it to crack underneath him.

"Tony," the Doctor holds up his hands in a precautionary way, "don't move. Stay still ok? I'm going to reach out and you will take my hand and then you will be safe." The Doctor inches out to Tony, hand extended for him to grab.

Tony shifts to take his hand, but the minor movement is just enough to cause the ice to collapse under him. He looks up at Rose and the Doctor with a terrified glance before he gets submerged in the freezing cold water.

"TONY!" they both scream at the same time.

The Doctor launches himself into the water after him, and Rose screams for Jackie and Pete. They come running and Rose kneels at the edge of the lake, searching for any sign of them. Because it is so cold, the lake is already starting to freeze over again at the place where Tony fell. Rose scrambles to clear the ice off. Tears plop onto the layer of snow in front of her but not from happiness this time. Then the water ripples and Tony emerges. Jackie practically crushes Tony in a death grip hug. When the Doctor doesn't surface after him, Rose leans down so her face is only a few inches away from the water. She holds her breath and waits for his familiar shape to come into view. Minutes go by and still no sign of him.

"Sweetie..." Jackie starts, "he hasn't come back up yet, I don't think he will."

"Isn't there anything you can do?!" she shouts at Pete.

He hesitates before answering, "No, I think he's gone."

Jackie carries Tony back to the cabin and Rose launches herself at the ice hole. Pete grabs her around her middle before she can jump in.

"NOOO!" she screams, "NO! DOCTOR!"

Pete pulls her away from the edge of the lake. She fights against him, struggling to break his grasp. A few tears roll down his face as Rose collapses into him, all the fight gone from her. He comforts her as much as he can, stroking her hair and shushing her.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me! You promised!" she whispers while sobbing, "How could you?!"

Her eyes widen and kicks out of Pete's arms -he wasn't expecting it so she got out easy-. The Doctor's hand breaks through the thin crust of ice and finds a grip on the land. Next comes his other hand and head. Pete runs over to him and helps him out of the icy water.

Rose snacks the Doctor on his shoulder, "I thought you were dead! Do you hear me? Dead! How could you do something like that to me?" she yells at him and bursts into tears, burying her head in his chest, and balling his shirt where she smacked him in her fist.

He shivers and Rose realizes he must be freezing for him to do that. She pulls him to her so she can warm him up as much as possible. Pete takes off his jacket and drapes it over the Doctor's back. They help him up and start to walk back to the house, Pete hurrying ahead to tell Jackie and Tony.

The Doctor and Tony sit on the sofa with Rose between them. Each has on dry clothes, four blankets, and is holding a steaming mug of tea. She leans into the Doctor, bringing her feet up onto the sofa. Looping an arm through his, she examines the ring on her finger.

"Too bad the pictures were ruined," Tony says dejectedly.

"Were they now?" the Doctor says with a mischievous grin as he tosses the camera in the air and catches it. My screwdriver says otherwise."

"Pictures of what?" Jackie asks as she enters the room with a mug of tea for Rose.

Rose's face lights up as she holds out her hand for Jackie. In the midst of all the chaos she had forgotten to tell Jackie and Pete about the Doctor proposing. Jackie looks from Rose's hand, to the Doctor, to Rose, and back to her hand.

"Is that?"

"Mhm!"

"My little girl is finally grown up!" she says through a smile. "I can't wait to plan the wedding! It will be huge and Rose, you will wear one of the poofy princess style dresses. I've always wanted to see you in one of those."

The Doctor and Rose exchange looks. Rose's look says 'She is NOT planning our wedding', while the Doctor's says 'She isn't planning our wedding is she?'

Still looking at him Rose says slowly, "Mum, I think we are going to have a small wedding, and the Doctor and I will plan it, yeah?"

When the doctor smiles in approval, Rose lets out a little sigh of relief.

"But you'll still wear the princess style dress?"

Rose looks at the Doctor, mentally screaming to him that there is no way she will ever put on a princess dress.


End file.
